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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoTony Dejak | Associated PressOhio Attorney General Mike DeWine says the Army Corps of Engineers has displayed a lack of urgency for keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. He and others addressed the corps on Thursday in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND — A congresswoman whose district stretches more than 100 miles alongside Lake Erie has
criticized federal officials for not acting with enough urgency to keep harmful Asian carp out of
the Great Lakes.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Toledo Democrat, challenged the Army Corps of Engineers during a
public meeting on Thursday night in Cleveland, saying the corps “has done this region a disservice
in failing to make a firm recommendation about the best course of action.”

“The two major threats to the ecosystem are harmful algal blooms and Asian carp,” Kaptur said. “
Preventing Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes system demands immediate attention and action,
not waiting 25 years.”

“I don’t think there has been a sense of urgency,” DeWine said. “The people (of Ohio) really get
it, and understand the Great Lakes. We want complete separation, and must move quickly.”

Dave Wethington, project manager of a study on Asian carp, attended the hearing and said
yesterday that the corps had met congressional deadlines on the issue.

“I’m personally very proud of the product that we put together and the diligence and timeliness
of the report,” he said.

Last week, the corps sent Congress a list of alternatives for shielding the Great Lakes from
Asian carp, which could devastate native fish.

Two of the plans would place dams in the Chicago waterway system to seal off Lake Michigan from
the carp-infested Mississippi River watershed.

About 100 people attended the meeting.

About a dozen people commenting on the report from the Great Lakes and Mississippi River
Interbasin Study pressed for separation of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River basin with
infrastructure in the Chicago Waterway System.

The carp-infested Illinois River flows into the system, making it the most likely avenue for
silver and bighead carp, the worst of a noxious bunch of aquatic nuisance species.